The Lonzo Ball experiment got worse and worse for the Cleveland Cavaliers as the year went on. Eventually, it became clear to everyone the franchise should move on. By his own admission, though, the former Cavs guard may not believe like the trade fate he was met with was ultimately deserved.
"I don't feel like I'm playing as bad as people are saying," Ball said during an episode of his podcast. "I know I'm the scapegoat right now. ... I'm not gonna say I'm playing great. But, to me, I'm just missing shots. ... Can I play better? Yes. Have I been playing terrible? I don't think I have."
Ball said people were too focused on the shooting percentages when it came to assessing his quality of play. The former Cavs backup believed him scoring at a terrible rate from the field did not matter too much when it came on low volume.
Ball's version of events in Cleveland don't exactly match the reality
It goes beyond the percentages with Ball. That is the really easy thing to look at and have stick out, but his underwhelming time in Cleveland can be assessed past that.
If poor shooting on low volume did not matter much, Craig Porter Jr. would not have taken his job as the backup point guard. If Ball's scoring was not detrimental beyond him missing his own shots, Dennis Schroder would not be in Cleveland to play the role that Lonzo was supposed to.
Ball posted an offensive rating of 100.1 per 100 possessions in his 35 appearances for the Cavaliers. That is the second worst mark of anyone on the team who has played at least 100 minutes for Cleveland this season. Only Luke Travers was worse.
When opposing defenses do not have to worry about the threat of you scoring (at all), it brings down other aspects of your offensive game. It's why Ball posted the worst turnover percentage (21.9) of his career. It's why his assist percentage (22.4) was similarly in the bottom-half of his seasons in the NBA.
If no one respects you as a scoring threat, your playmaking is just not going to hit the same. It's why the offensive issues go so much further than just the bad shooting percentages Ball was defending.
The Cavs had to attach multiple second-round picks to just dump Lonzo's expiring salary and clear up a roster spot for Nae'Qwan Tomlin. The Utah Jazz proceeded to immediately waive him. That should be a pretty telling account of whether Ball's time in Cleveland was truly that bad.
The 28-year-old deserves all the kudos in the world for getting himself back on an NBA floor after all the injuries that threatened his career. However, ducking the smoke for his poor play this season will not do him any favors moving forward.